INTERVIEW with Julie Eshbaugh, author of IVORY AND BONE and INT giveaway of SIGNED Hardcover!

Dear All:
I am so thrilled and excited to have the wonderful Julie Eshbaugh highlighted on my blog today, who has recently debuted her wonderful IVORY AND BONE. If you haven't read this yet, you must!!!

I have to say this book cover is goooorgeous!!! And is super important to the story as well, a perfect combination!

Goodreads Book description: A prehistoric fantasy—with allusions to Pride and Prejudice.

Hunting, gathering, and keeping his family safe—that’s the life seventeen-year-old Kol knows. Then bold, enigmatic Mya arrives from the south with her family, and Kol is captivated. He wants her to like and trust him, but any hopes of impressing her are ruined when he makes a careless—and nearly grave—mistake. However, there’s something more to Mya’s cool disdain…a history wrought with loss that comes to light when another clan arrives. With them is Lo, an enemy from Mya’s past who Mya swears has ulterior motives.

As Kol gets to know Lo, tensions between Mya and Lo escalate until violence erupts. Faced with shattering losses, Kol is forced to question every person he’s trusted. One thing is for sure: this was a war that Mya or Lo—Kol doesn’t know which—had been planning all along.

Buy links:

Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Ivory-Bone-Julie-Eshbaugh/dp/006239925X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447351389&sr=8-1&keywords=ivory+and+bone

Powells http://www.powells.com/book/ivory-and-bone-9780062399250/62-0

BAM http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Ivory-Bone/Julie-Eshbaugh/9780062399250?id=6459670951628

B&N http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ivory-and-bone-julie-eshbaugh/1122678980?ean=9780062399250

IndieBound http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062399250 

Indigo https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/ivory-and-bone/9780062399250-item.html?ikwid=ivory+and+bone&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=0

My rating: 5 couches

My Review: Let me just say up front that this is usually not the type of book I'd pick up. The thought of prehistory fantasy kind of makes me think of cavemen who go around and bash things in the head with a rock with grunts. How would you make this sexy or appealing? Well, turns out, you have to be Julie Eshbaugh.

I don't want anyone to have the stupid reservations I did, because seriously, no one, including Julie, would want to write or read about something like that. This book is gorgeous and pulse pounding as it builds up to the intense finish, and this unbeliever is a total groupie now.

Ivory and Bone by Julie Eshbaugh stars Kol, who is the eldest son of his clan, who is expected to marry, but the problem is, their clan has no women of marrying age. Enter Mya, the oldest daughter of a nearby clan, who seems to harbor some dark secrets in her troubled eyes, and she has nothing but biting and rude words for Kol, who let's face it, is the nicest guy in prehistoric history. This seems simple, but it's anything but, and as Eshbaugh eloquently and painstakingly takes us through both the past and present, Kol's world and his way of thinking are completely shaken and changed by a single girl.

I loved this book. I actually was reading two other books at the time, that were at the top of my TBR pile, and I abandoned them both to blaze through this book. Eshbaugh takes some really wonderful risks here. First, obviously is the fact it's a prehistory fantasy. I love that even this genre is innovative. Secondly, the novel is mostly written in partial second, where Mya is referred to as "you." This may seem jarring to the reader at first, but the usage of this narrative makes so much sense as it is a story told by Kol to Mya. Stories play such a large role in this novel, and in one particular twist, it takes on extra eerie meaning. I love how Eshbaugh effortlessly weaves storytelling into Kol's emotional journey.

And Kol. This guy... it's hard to even imagine someone nicer. Yes, he's naive, and he has character flaws, but he's an optimist and a good guy at the core. You can't help but root for him, and want to take him for yourself. Hey, if Mya isn't going to come around, there are many of us who will snap him up immediately! That said, Mya is a really fascinating character, and I love that she says so much without even uttering a word. And I won't talk too much about villains, but let's just say that I loved this person in a twisted way and am still thinking about what went down.

Overall, a really ambitious and beautifully written debut that takes a lot of risks and soars with flying colors. Eshbaugh is a writer to watch.  

Author Blurb: Julie Eshbaugh now lives in Philadelphia after having called Utah, France, and New York City home. Early on, Julie focused her artistic energies on filmmaking and online video. She made two short films and then spent several years producing an online video series for teens which received several honors from the Webby Awards. Creating videos for teens led to writing novels for teens, and Julie has never looked back. Ivory and Bone is her debut novel.

Author Interview

We've chatted about this briefly, but I wanted to ask about a couple of risks you took (which I loved and think you pulled off marvelously). First, prehistory fantasy is definitely a genre I haven't really seen around, which is great, but at the same time, risky because people don't know what to expect. Can you talk a bit about how you decided to select this as your setting, and why it was important for you to do it this way?

This is a great question, and it’s not one I’m asked very often. To be honest, when I first conceived of the story, I didn’t really think of setting a book in prehistory as a risk. I knew it was an unusual setting, but I was so excited about exploring a world and time period I’ve always been so interested in. When you write historical fantasy, it’s so important that you love the period you choose, because you will be immersed in it for a long time! And for me, research doesn’t really end at any point—I’m still researching as I work on Book Two.

The other risky move you made, was writing this novel in a partial second person, as a story being told to someone. Can you talk a bit about narrative and how you went about deciding to write it like this?

I love when narrative style serves a story in a unique way. When I first began drafting IVORY AND BONE, I planned to write it in first person, present tense, because I felt that would lend an immediacy to a world that could easily feel very foreign to the reader. The first scene I drafted, though, is the scene that became the prologue, and it just came to me in this storyteller style where Kol is talking directly to Mya. Later, after a few chapters were drafted that way, I went back and tried to change it to a conventional first person, but it seemed to lose something, so I kept the storyteller style. Though I did realize it was a risk, I think it fits the time, when telling stories out loud was so important.

Stories play a large role in this book and how tales are handed down the generations in the clans. Can you talk a bit about storytelling and if any of the stories were inspired by other old tales from Grimm or ancient fairy tales?

I did give a lot of thought to the importance of oral tradition to the clans in the book, because they have no written language to preserve their stories. In the world of IVORY AND BONE, when a story is forgotten or some truth from the past is unknown, that lack of knowledge has consequences. Other stories have been handed down for so many generation, they’re treated with the reverence of scripture. I really enjoyed creating the origin stories and the other traditional clan histories, and they are all straight out of my imagination! If they were influenced by Grimm or any other fairy tales, it wasn’t consciously.

I know most authors don't have much say in the covers, but I absolutely love yours. Can you talk a bit about what your experience has been getting this particular cover?

Thanks! I love my cover, too! This wasn’t the first cover for the book, though. The original cover was text based, and survives still on the spine. Each letter was carved, and the “O” in BONE was shattering. I really loved that version of the cover, but when I saw the revised version with the shattering ring as the prominent feature, I loved it even more!

While all of us are swooning for Kol, do you have particular book boyfriends/girlfriends/other?

I would have to say Mr. Darcy is my most beloved book boyfriend, though I’m pretty sure if I met him in real life I wouldn’t be able to tolerate him.

Do you have beta readers or critique partners? Why or why not?

Usually two or more friends will read my work and give me critical feedback. I try to have a few people I can ask, because my writer friends are often busy with their own deadlines. I think it’s important to get feedback while you’re developing your work, to see what’s coming together and what might still needs work. That’s why I ask more than one person to read. I look for feedback that overlaps. If I hear the same advice from more than one reader, I can be pretty sure they’ve found something that needs attention.

For writers that are starting out, do you have a piece of advice you wish you had known before you started?

I think the best advice I can give is to trust yourself and keep going. Being a writer means facing rejection. It happens to everyone. So don’t let the rejection plant seeds of doubt. Trust your voice. Persevere. Your next book could be the one that becomes your debut novel!

What are you working on next?

I’m currently working on the sequel to IVORY AND BONE! It continues the characters’ stories. 

And now for a super generous giveaway from Julie herself! This is a signed Hardcover copy of IVORY and BONE and this giveaway is INT!!! Go forth!!!

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